Their Eyes Were Watching God AP LIT Wiki
This is a book about a woman going through a journey to find herself. She takes many steps to ensure her freedom is found and that she has lived her life to the best extent. 'Plot' [https://their-eyes-were-watching-god-ap-lit.fandom.com/wiki/Janie_Crawford?venotify=created Janie Crawford]' '''is in Eatonville talking to her best friend Pheoby Watson. She is explaining the events that occurred in the time that she has been gone. Everyone in the town is spreading gossip about her. Janie explains how she was raised by her grandmother and the Washburn’s (a white couple). She doesn't even know that she is black until she sees a picture and doesn't recognize herself. Under a pear tree, Janie’s sexuality comes alive and she kisses Johnny Taylor. After Nanny sees this she decides to marry Janie off to Logan Killicks a farmer in his forties. Nanny wants Janie to have a stable life with someone who will take care of her. Love is not a part of this dream. Nanny doesn't want Janie to end up like her and Leafy. Leafy who is Janie’s mother ran away leaving Janie with Nanny. Love is not something Janie feels with Logan and this scares her. Logan and Janie are married in a big ceremony. A short period of time later Nanny passes away. Logan’s relationship with Janie is strained when he asks her to tend to the field work. Janie than meets Jody Starks when Logan is out getting a mule. Jody and Janie eventually get married and run away together to Eatonville. Arriving in Eatonville Jody buys a large portion and is declared as the Mayor. He then buys a store and wants to install a street lamp. He shows his power by swaying the town even though many people do not want it. The town then starts to stray away from Jody because of his dominant personality. The people do not want to be controlled. They all wonder how Janie can stand to be with him. He makes her tie her gorgeous hair up in a rag. He controls her and doesn't even let her speak. As time goes on so do the lives of Jody and Janie. Jody’s age is becoming more visible and his body seems to be failing him while Janie still looks as young as ever. He begins to bash Janie for her looks. Janie sick and tired of listening to him constantly berating her throws back harsh comments as well. Jody is extremely mad and cannot even talk to Janie until he is about to die. After he dies Janie pretends to be sad, but from the inside knows she is now free. She burns her head rags and lives in freedom. One day a man comes into the store which Janie runs and challenges her to a game of checkers. She is very mesmerized because no man has treated her as an equal yet. He introduces himself as Tea Cake. They both flirt and while the town frowns upon their relationship Tea Cake asks Janie to marry him in Jacksonville. He takes $200 dollars from Janie to throw a party and then gambles and gets $312 dollars in return. Both of them move to muck where Tea Cake picks beans. Janie is sitting in overalls and with migrant workers thinking of what the Eatonville gossipers would say. Janie learns to shoot and has a better shot than Tea Cake himself. Both of them have problems with getting jealous. Janie is jealous of Nunkie a field girl while Tea Cake is jealous of this man who is light skin and has white features. Time passes by and Janie sees a bunch of Native Americans leaving due to a hurricane coming. Everyone leaves except for Tea Cake, Janie, and Motorboat who don't think the hurricane will do damage. The hurricane comes and it is very powerful Janie and Tea Cake now try to leave and find high ground. The water comes and Janie can't swim she grabs onto a cow with a dog on it. The dog ends up biting Tea Cake and giving him rabies. Rabies takes over and makes Tea Cake crazy. He tries shooting Janie, but Janie shoots him and kills him. She is put on trial and is found not guilty. Janie comes back to Eatonville and is on the porch talking to Pheoby about her life after she left. 'Characters' '''Janie Crawford:' Janie Crawford is the protagonist in this story. Eager to find love and not waste her time she gets married three times. Janie is portrayed to be beautiful and be exquisite. Her hair, in particular, is something that makes all men and women stare. She is also ¼ black and ¾ white. She does not find love till the last. Janie is trying to discover who she is throughout this story. She is developing her own voice and is striving to find her horizon. Janie wants to understand the true meaning of love and will not stop until she finds it. ' '''Nanny Crawford:' Being Janie's grandmother was no easy task for Nanny. She is a woman who was raped by a white man during the Civil War era. This woman only wants the best for Janie and does not want Janie to be like herself and Janie's mother Leafy. All of Nannie's hopes and dreams for Leafy have been transferred to Janie. Nanny sometimes goes a little overboard because of her protective nature. Nanny has been like a mother to Janie while Janie’s own mother is not to be found. ' '''Leafy Crawford:' Leafy is Janie's mother who eventually left Janie to be raised by Nanny. Leafy was half black and half white. Just like her own mother Nanny, Leafy was also raped by a white man. This caused her to become pregnant with Janie. Eventually turning to alcohol, Leafy left Janie with Nanny and fled. Nanny did not want Janie to be like her mother. ' '''Johnny Taylor:' This was a boy who Janie had her first sexual experience with. Janie was on the cusp of her adolescence. Johnny was the first boy who she had ever kissed and this left her wanting more. It started her journey to find love. ' '''Mr. Washburn/ Mrs.Washburn:' The Washburns were a white couple with daughters who employed Nanny to be their “slave”. They were kind people who gave Nanny and Janie their own place to live in their backyard. The Washburns also held Janie’s first wedding and raised Janie with their own children. ' '''Logan Killicks:' This is Janie's first husband. Nanny married Janie to him right after she found Janie kissing Johnny Taylor. The reason for this was because Nanny wanted Janie to have a man who wouldn't leave her and would keep Janie stable. Logan was approximately in his late thirties to early forties. He wanted Janie to pull her own weight in the house, so he had her work in the field. His relationship with Janie was not loving. ' 'Joseph Starks:' Jody as Janie affectionately called him was her second husband. They met while she was still married to Logan. Jody eventually left with Janie and moved to Eatonville where he purchased the land and became the Mayor of the town. Jody held very non-progressive views and often tried to control Janie and succeeded in doing so. Their marriage very quickly started to collapse because of Jody. Jody was in search of power. He controlled the town, the people, and Janie. ' Pheoby Watson:' Pheoby lived in Eatonville and was Janie's best friend. She was very attentive and believed Janie when the town did not. The story starts with Janie talking to Pheoby about her life. Pheoby listens to Janie and cares about her and isn't like the rest of the town who gossips behind Janie’s back. ' Tea Cake: Janie's third and final husband and her one true love is who Tea cake is. He meets Janie in the Eatonville store and challenges her to a game of checkers. Tea Cake treats Janie as an equal. He doesn't suppress her and instead loves her passionately. Tea Cake is twelve years younger than Janie this does cause some problems with the townspeople. Janie and Tea Cake leave Eatonville and move to the Everglades where they both work as migrant workers. He loves Janie for what she is not what he can mold her to be. Eventually, Tea Cake changes and tries to control Janie. ' '''Motorboat:' A migrant worker who is friends with Janie and Teacake. Through a big hurricane, he survives in a floating house. ' '''Mrs. Turner:' A woman who Janie befriends in the Everglades. Mrs. Turner had white features. She is very racist and is constantly trying to set Janie up with her brother. Mrs.Turner favors Janie because of her hair and white features. She explicitly has stated that she doesn’t understand how Janie married someone like Tea Cake who is so dark and beneath Janie. ' '''Mrs. Turner's Brother:' The person who is kind of responsible for the events that transpire to the end of Tea Cake’s relationship. It was suggested by his sister that Janie leave Tea Cake for him. Locations Eatonville: ' '''Here is where the story first starts with Janie talking to Pheoby about why she has come back.' 'West Florida: ' 'T'his is where Janie grows up with Nanny and the Washburns. It is where most of her childhood is spent. '''Eatonville: This is a very special place and is the center of the story and it is where Janie has spent most of her life. Janie moves her with Jody right after they are married. She lives here for about twenty years and then meets Teacake. Jacksonville: Tea Cake and Janie get married here and then they move to the Everglades. Everglades: The Everglades is where at first Janie and Teacake live happily, but then the hurricane strikes leaving both of them helpless. Here Janie is being herself and is at peace. She often thinks about what people from uppity Eatonville would say if they saw her in dirty clothing in the Everglades. West Palm Beach: This is where Janie and Tea Cake go to escape the hurricane. Everglades: The final chapters of the book take place in the Everglades ( Janie shooting Tea Cake) and so does the trial that Janie had to go through. Eatonville: Lastly the book circles back to the beginning where Janie is talking to Pheoby. This is what the last chapter starts with. It ends with Janie looking at the sun and “horizon” from her bedroom. Her journey is finally complete from beginning to end. ' Symbols Janie's Hair: It is seen as a source of exquisite beauty. It is also straight and long which is uncommon for many African Americans, therefore, leading Janie to be unique. She is repressed by Jody and forced to tie her hair up because he is jealous of all the attention she is getting. Janie finally burns her rags and this signals her freedom. Her hair flows freely. ' '''Horizon:' The horizon is a point which Janie yearns to touch and come back. It is something she dreams about getting to. It is her impossible fantasy that she hopes one day can come true. ' '''Pear Tree:' Janie's sexual desires start at the pear tree. The pear tree is blooming and so is Janie’s passion. This leads her to kiss Johnny Taylor. Eventually, Janie finds her balance and peace and knows what she is looking for. This led to her journey and course to find love. ' The Hurricane: This symbolizes the unknown aspect of life. Everything can be going perfectly and suddenly life can strike you in the most unpredictable way possible. This signaled the end of Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship. One may think that they have everything under control, but this is simply not true. Power is not in the hands of measly humans instead people are under the control of nature. ' '''Mule:' It is considered a victim and helpless during the beginning of the book. The mule was constantly abused by being underfed by its owner. Janie can be interpreted to be the mule. Jody was walking all over her and she could not do anything except stay silent just like the mule who couldn't voice his problems either. ' '''Rabid Dog': The rabid dog bit Tea Cake and made him crazy. Teacake turned rabid instantly. He acted with no logical thought process and ended up dead instead. Tea Cake's final moments ended with him biting on Janie’s arm with his tooth marks showing. A dog bites while people do not. The dog represented the nature that Teacake took. ''' Themes '''Finding oneself: Janie goes on a journey to find true love and herself. She lived with other people’s rules for a while and wasn't happy. Then she did not want to live on others s terms and instead wanted to live life for herself. She found her happiness eventually and it led her to own who she was. The book tells people to not be satisfied with how they currently live if they aren't thriving. Readers are encouraged to reach for the sky and dream big till they eventually find their horizon. Power isn't in one's hands: Often times one may think they possess all the control, but this is false. Janie learned this the hard way. Everything might be going great, but in one second the switch could flip. This happened, especially with Tea Cake. That hurricane ruined both of their lives. Nature’s unexpected nature can leave people with no option. The unpredictability of life is one fact that will never stand to be false. Discrimination: Many times references were made to Janie because she was so beautiful (her mixed background). Further along, Mrs.Turner thinks that Janie is too pale to be with someone as dark as Tea Cake. Racial discrimination is not something that Hurston chose to make the central focus of the book but readers get few glimpses into it. Latest activity Photos and videos are a great way to add visuals to your wiki. Add one below! Category:Browse